Dear Editor,
I refer to your editorials in which you treat regularly with the ongoing debate concerning the nation’s oil and gas industry. To the eyes of the keen reader many editorials are perceivably, pregnant with a host of critical issues which, by themselves, qualify as stand-alone features for future editions in your newspaper. The debate about Guyana’s oil and gas industry will continue for years to come precisely because it has to do with a highly complex industry with years of a chequered history behind it. Further, with all the challenges as a nascent, but major contributor to our economy, the sector can bring either prosperity or unnecessary impoverishment of the Guyanese people. But the bigger challenge facing the nation is what lie ahead in light of the increasing pressure at the global level for developing countries to decarbonize their energy sectors and to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources by 2050.
Vice President Jagdeo has made it clear that: ‘’Guyana is already a net zero global emitter where the world is trying to get by 2050.” Jagdeo went on to point out that: “Many say that to get to (a) decarbonized future net zero by 2050 there should be no further investment in (our) oil and gas asset. We believe it is totally unfair. We can continue to do that and continue to advocate globally for a decarbonized world.” declared Jagdeo. The VP went on to state; “If demand (for oil and gas) outstrips the investment in renewable energy, then you’re going to have fossil fuels still in place.” Four concrete steps taken recently by government to ameliorate climate change contributing to a decarbonized future net zero by 2050 include:
1. Provision of its standing tropical forests as a source of eco-services systems as well as the lowering of emissions provided by its standing tropical forests that can contribute as carbon sinks;
2. Utilization of the market that allows Guyana as a tropical forest-country to trade carbon credits in exchange for financial resources;
3. The recent increase in the flaring penalty for ExxonMobil from US$30 to US$45 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) released; some have argued that the penalty could have been more stringent considering the fact that flaring should suffer zero tolerance in the context of the current campaign against greenhouse gas emissions
4. The recent request by government for the ‘reprogramming of previously approved Islamic Development Bank funds and the programming of new resources to help Guyana strengthen its capacity to respond to any future extreme climatic events and to build a more resilient infrastructure in the shortest possible time.’
No doubt, the request is indicative of Guyana’s urgent need for and prioritizing of resources to off-set the high costs for climate adaptation and resilience-building measures. These measures and disclosures would put Guyana in good stead as it prepares to participate in the upcoming COP 26 Climate Change Conference to be held in November this year in Glasgow, Scotland. Meanwhile, as the debate rolls on, much has been said and written about our country’s bourgeoning oil and gas industry. We’ve had lectures, round table discussions, editorials, and letters to the editors of mainstream print media as well as social media commentaries.
The end result has been a marked polarization of public opinion on the vagaries of climate change and its impact on Guyana, the mixed views about the future of Guyana’s oil and gas sector and above all, the highly anticipated benefits that ought to flow to the Guyanese people. Under prevailing circumstances, Guyanese are free to draw their own bottom line in light of the views and conclusions arrived at by the UN Panel on Climate Change, the Government of Guyana’s, ExxonMobil’s, the media’s as well as the public’s view. Lamentably, thus far, there is no published national consensus nor unanimity of views on the subject which is so critical for Guyana’s progressive development. The big question therefore is, who stands to benefit from these widely dispersed views. Some hold the view that in the final analysis it is ExxonMobil. Time and the progressive people-centered policies of the Irfaan Ali administration will determine who will win. In the meanwhile, the reading public continues to be inundated with a wash of information about the oil and gas industry. But whatever the public’s views might be, those views tend to fit squarely with the narrative of the political party they support irrespective of the extent to which they may be the influenced by the opinions of the newspaper of their choice.
Sincerely,
Clement J. Rohee
